I like to lift heavy things, make colorful food, write, and talk about pop culture.

Early Morning Workout Calls

Thus far, I have proven successful at this whole waking up early and working out thing. Tuesday was a true test of determination due to the cold, wet, and slippery driving conditions that could have been reason enough for me to roll over and sleep longer. Thing is, I didn’t sleep well the night before for whatever reason and when my alarm went off, I was ready to get up.

Last Thursday when I took my regularly scheduled rest day, I found I felt more tired during the day even though I slept a whole hour and forty-five minutes longer than usual. There’s something about starting the day with a workout that pumps you up and keeps you energized. The trick is getting up in the first place.

Because I had not woken up on Thursday, I found it more agonizing on Friday when my alarm went off, but once I was awake, I was feeling strong. I fit in a great dumbbell strength circuit before heading over to do a Plyometrics cardio workout, including jump rope, box jumps, jumping jacks, high knees, and skater jumps.

On Saturday, it was cold and rainy, which meant I wouldn’t be able to fit in my long run. As much as I missed my one chance at an outdoor run, I improvised at the gym with a ton of interval training. For each move, I performed an exercise for twenty seconds and rested for ten seconds for four minutes. This included box jumps, kettlebell swings, squats, lunges, bicep curls, mountain climbers, push ups, Russian twists, jump roping, and bicycling among others. I finished off my workout with a few sprints on the treadmill before slowing down the pace and ran for twenty minutes. I left feeling nice and sweaty.

I was battling a few odd ailments on Sunday, including a pretty bad headache and a twinge in my ear, so I decided it was in my best interest to take a day off from the gym.

This ended up being the right call and I was good and ready to wake up on Monday and get going. I went through my usual barbell workouts, four sets of ten reps, and was able to move up my weights on a few of the moves. I contemplated running for my cardio, but didn’t have the right shoes, so I did twelve minutes on the elliptical and followed it up with another version of Plyometrics. Now that I have more of a set routine, I can workout for about an hour and fifteen minutes, which is a perfect amount of time!

As I mentioned, Tuesday brought a snow-covered car and frozen windshield, but the heat was quick to warm things up and I took it slow driving to the gym. To kick things off, I went through a body strength workout of step ups, lunges, dips, squats, push ups, mountain climbers, mermaid raises, hip lifts, Russian twists, and hundred v ups. For a little extra ab work, I did some planks. My intention, like every Tuesday, was to swim, but the weather didn’t keep people away like I predicted, and the pool was so crowded! Not wanting to waste any time, I threw my workout clothes back on and ran up to the treadmill to fit in a long run. My only obstacle was trying to keep things interesting while I whittled away forty minutes. Loud, fun music helps things along!

For my Wednesday workout, I grabbed the kettlebells and went through an exhausting circuit workout that included for one set- swings, goblet squats, elbow to knee shoulder presses with step ups, high pulls, and lunging arrows, and another set of kickback rows, tricep pullovers, mermaid raises, hundred leg lifts, and Russian twists. For some cardio, I spent some time jump roping before taking to the elliptical.

Thus far, I’m digging the morning workouts and how it makes me feel. As time goes, it will either turn into a certified habit or steer me towards evening workouts. As I said before, it’s a choice when I want to workout, but not a choice whether or not I workout at all. Choose options of the usual when, where, what, how, and why that work best for you and get to it!